Any way to trade in a car w/o losing a TON of $$

[shelbean91]

When we had our 3rd child, we bought a minivan. It's nice, I like the room, it's convenient, etc., etc., etc. However, it only gets 14ish mpg and I HATE spending that much to fill it every week (MIL watches the kids and drives who knows where- I usually go through a tank of gas every 10days-2 weeks). B/c she's watching the kids for free and doesn't have much money, I'm not going to ask her to stay home or pay for gas (I use her car while she uses mine).

But, we're thinking of trading in for either a more effecient van or another scion, like dh has. The only problem w/the scion is that if we purchase another one (it only has 5 seats), I'm sure I'll get pg w/in a month- even using b/c. That's just my luck.

Soooo, anyone know any tricks to not lose our butts by trading in a vehicle we've only had for 2 years? I know, it's basically not possible, just wanted to know if anyone has figured out something I may have missed.

Thanks.

[Bartock]

If you could sell it privately you could get more. We bought my dads truck, the dealership was only going to give him $6000 on a trade in, we looked in the paper for the same truck and they we selling for $10 000 to 14 000. He sold it to us for $5000, got love family that helps!!

[scatterbrainedmom]

like the pp said, sell it privatly. it also depends on how much you owe and what your interest rate is on how much you will get back. you can check kbb to get an idea of what it is worth.

[cj'smommy]

Yep, try and sell it privately. My friend who does this business on the side (fixes and re-sells) says you can usually get about $1000 over Kelly Blue Book.

Also try Carmax. We did that with my mom's truck and they gave her twice what the dealership was and it was also the same she would have gotten if she did it privately. Plus being older (in her 60's) it was less hassle for her.
You do have to be careful though, we took a truck there not too long ago and they didn't offer us nearly enough for it so we're selling it privately. It doesn't hurt just to go there and see what they'll offer you, you're not under any obligation.

[shelbean91]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've always stayed away from selling privately, only b/c it's such a hassle. Also, we need to not be w/o a car, so can't sell it first and can't afford 3 car payments if there is a delay in selling. I'll talk to dh about it, though, maybe it won't be as bad as I always think of it.

And you're right, I can take it in and see what htey offer at a dealer. If it's good enough, we might be able to do it. I'm nto too terribly optimistic about that, though.

thanks again.

[Godiva]

I used to work in a dealership. No, they won't give you as much as if you sold it privately. They give you roughly 4-5k less. They need to make a profit. If you're not willing to loose 4-5k, don't even bother taking it to a dealership. Carmax usually isn't much better. I had a car I knew was worth 12k. I just wanted to be done with it so I sold it to carmax for 7k. They turned around and listed it for 12k :P . So say your car payment is 500 a month and you have to carry that for 5 months after buying a new car. You're still doing about 2500 better than trading it in.

[Eman'smom]

If you know what you want you can buy a car in a weekend (if you see yours privately). We were without a car one day, between the old one dying and buying the new one, and that was only because I didn't want dh to take off work.